Parents ditched their baby at an airport check-in desk after refusing to buy the tot a ticket.
A scuffle broke out at Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion Airport when the Ryanair passengers were asked to purchase a seat for their child.
Local news outlet KAN reported that the couple were travelling on Belgian passports to Brussels, when they discovered they had to pay extra for a seat for their baby.
Rather than forking out the additional money, the parents left their child in a pram by the desk and walked to passport control.
A Ryanair employee told local news source K12: “We’ve never seen anything like this. We couldn’t believe what we were seeing.”
The couple had arrived late for their flight and were anxious to get through, Israel Airports Authority said.
A Ryanair spokesperson said: “These passengers travelling from Tel Aviv to Brussels (31 January) presented at check-in without a booking for their infant. They then proceeded to security leaving the infant behind at check-in.
“The check-in agent at Ben Gurion Airport contacted Airport Security, who retrieved these passengers, and this is now a matter for local police.”
According to Ryanair, people travelling with an infant can either pay around £25 for a lap seat or can buy a separate seat for the child at a standard adult fare.
Police officers were called who then found the parents and brought them in for questioning, it was reported.
Footage obtained by Mako shows check-in workers moving a blanket off a baby car seat to see the infant inside.
The incident is not the first occasion when a parent has left their child at an airport.
A Saudia Arabian flight had to turn back to its departure point after a mother left her baby at the airport in 2019.
The passenger told crew she had forgotten her baby in the boarding area of the terminal.
